“Because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself”....
2 Chronicles 34:26-27 “But to the king of Judah, who sent you to inquire of the Lord, thus shall you say to him, Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Regarding the words that you have heard, because your heart was tender and you humbled yourself before God when you heard his words against this place and its inhabitants, and you have humbled yourself before me and have torn your clothes and wept before me, I also have heard you, declares the Lord.”
Josiah was one of the few faithful Kings who reigned over Judah. We read in 2 Chronicles 34:3 “For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet a boy, he began to seek the God of David his father, and in the twelfth year he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem of the high places, the Asherim, and the carved and the metal images”. I love that in this passage we learn that while he was yet a boy Josiah sought God and early in his reign when he was probably still a teenager he began to purge Judah of their idolatry.
What really stands out about Josiah was that he had a tender heart for the Word of God and was quick to humble himself. When the book of the law was found and was read to him, his heart broke, and he began to weep before God because of the sins of his people. Because he heard from God in this humble way, God heard from him. Because He was moved by God’s Word, God was moved when he cried out to Him.
Because He was moved by God’s Word, God was moved when he cried out to Him.
Where is that humility and sensitivity to the Word of God today? It’s amazing to me how a holy omnipotent God is moved by the humble prayers of his children even when we blow it. But are we moved by the things of God?
“People in awe never complain that Church is boring”
“People in awe never complain that Church is boring”
I’ve heard it said, "People in awe never complain that Church is boring” (R C Sproul). Sadly the church today has become a house of entertainment rather than a house of prayer. Entertainment may draw a crowd and keep apathetic believers attentive for an hour, but it will not do anything for a heart that is unmoved by the things of God. We can watch a 3 1/2 hour football game, having no problem if it goes into overtime, but we complain if the service goes a little longer than expected. And we expect God to move mightily on our behalf?
Why are many believers today so apathetic and complacent when it comes to the things that really matter, like heaven, hell, discipleship, prayer, witnessing to the lost, living a holy life that honors God and bringing glory to His holy name? We’ve become desensitized to the things of God that matter most through conformity to the world (Romans 12:1-2).
I heard an illustration once about a scientist that was doing some research in the Antarctica. He would do some measurements, walk a mile and do his measurements again. After a few miles of walking, he realized through his measurements that he hadn’t made any forward progress. That he was actually farther back than he was when he first got started. After some time he figured out that the reason his measurements did not indicate forward progress was because he was walking on a giant iceberg and the iceberg was moving backward a lot faster than he was moving forward.
I heard an illustration once about a scientist that was doing some research in the Antarctica. He would do some measurements, walk a mile and do his measurements again. After a few miles of walking, he realized through his measurements that he hadn’t made any forward progress. That he was actually farther back than he was when he first got started. After some time he figured out that the reason his measurements did not indicate forward progress was because he was walking on a giant iceberg and the iceberg was moving backward a lot faster than he was moving forward.
Today many Christians think that they are doing pretty good when it comes to their walk with the Lord. That’s because they are comparing themselves with the world and the world is going backwards a whole lot faster than they are going forward. Many believers spend hours in front of the TV screen or media devices being entertained by things that glorify sin. Our hearts are being moved not by the things of God, but by a romance between a couple that are committing adultery or are engaged in premarital sex.
We need to humbly get our eyes off of this world, and onto the glory of God, through prayer and the word of God to keep our conscience from being defiled and our hearts from becoming desensitized.
The church will not see a move of God until like Josiah with a tender heart we hear the word of God, humble ourselves and repent of our apathy and sin. Some of us need to fast from television, other forms of social media, and spend some extended quality time in the word until our defiled hearts are cleansed.
We will not see a move of God until we are moved by the things that move God.
God help us!
We will not see a move of God until we are moved by the things that move God.
God help us!
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